Mexico weekly ledger., 1887-10-13
The OId-Time Texas sheriff.

This article is intended to give =
picture of the Texas sheriff as he was
and is now. except in the remotest
of the state, says the Te<as
Colonel.
He used to be a gay and festive euss.
with a strong arm and br0ad-hrimnaed
hat. He wore a pair of jeans pants
and three six-shooters, ami 4 pair of
boots with spurs containing rowels
like the circular saws of an east Texas
saw-mill- He was always ready for
ANYTHING, from a~rresting other deS-
p~eradoes who encroached on what
he considered exclusive privileges con-
ferred on him by his election, to shoot
ing out the lights in peoples houses
Just to show how he could snuff a can
die after he had filed up on '"tarantula
juice" as he facetiously called the
kind of whisky he generally got for
nothing from the barkeepers in this
county who found it cheaper to give
all the rum he called for, free, and
thus s'stand in with him. to being
MANNED, or arrested by the sheriff for
every little thing that might trauspire.
The typical sheriff of old Texas days
was a hero in his own imagination,
and was proud of his privilege of car
rying around as many six-shooters as
he could swing TO himself. He attend
ed all balls and parties, and church
fairs. An invitation was not neces-
sary to him, although, when he failed
to receive one. it was not generally so
pleasant to the guests, for he went
anyway; and a slight was sufficient TO
make him full of fun, and he generally
had it, too. He considered it contempt
of court and high treason TO be OPP
posed in anything, and few men dared
interfere with him. When he attended
public gatherings, or church. in sum-
mer, he always went in his shirt
sleeves. the only other clothing he
wore over his shirt being his ever
present siX-shooters. But these were
daisies. He took a pride in them, for
they were his passport, and badge of
honor. He looked the country over
until he found a man with q pistol with
an ivory handle, with dogs, cowboys.
and snakes, and centipedes, and things
carved all over the handle. Then he
offered to ''swap pistols" II the par
ty wanted to have ''boot," the sheriff
usually called him out. and then had
to kill him in ''self-defense," or was,
in turn, killed. In the first case, he
took the fancy pistol, buckled it on.
and was a hero. and exhibited it as the
little iron barkerI got from a friend
who tried to make an angel outen
me-"
He went on the railway trains with
his pistols cleaning and Singing at
his side, and passed the time away
shooting at telegraph poles and dogs
along the line, to the great terror of
ladies and children and timid men,
who did not know that he would not
harm a hair of their heads-as long
as they did not thwart him in any
cherished design of .'having fun"
When the Texas legislature passed a
law making it a misdemeanor for any
officer to- carry concealed weapons ex-
cept in the active discharge of his
sworn duty, this kind of Texas sheriff,
who had begun to be obsolete then,
raised Il great row, and talked about
officers losing their respect which
alone could avail them in putting
down lawleSsness, and declared that
any such laws were against the cOnsti-
tuition of Texas. They were quick in
taking up the old cry that any law
which might compel them, as well as
common people, to respect the rights
of others, was an infringement of
our personal liberties guaranteed by
the bill of rights" But the law said
all roughs and desparodoes must be
treated alike, whether they had been
elected to office or merely come into
power by Il timid sheriff making some
.local" desperate Il deputy, as many
sherit!s did who were mortally afraid
to refuse a deputyship to a profession
ally inclined murderer. or bullying
desperate. We are happy to state
that this kind of sheriff, once so pre-
valent, is now about obsolete in Texas.
He is to be see only in extreme out
side counties noU.